Fishing boats dock on the Cái Bé River in Kiên Giang Province’s Châu Thành District. – VNA/VNS Photo Lê Sen

KIÊN GIANG – Kiên Giang is focusing on building infrastructure for the fishing industry.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province plans to set up 13 storm shelters, 11 fishing ports and a large fishing centre by 2030.

The storm shelters will be in Châu Thành, Kiên Hải, An Minh, Kiên Lương and Hòn Đất districts and Phú Quốc, Hà Tiên and Rạch Giá cities.

The ports will be in the same districts as the shelters and Phú Quốc.

Lê Quốc Anh, deputy chairman of the province People’s Committee, said three of the storm shelters are under construction and 85 per cent complete.

Five of the ports have been built and two are already in use, he said.

The province has sought VNĐ200 billion from the Government to build the remaining ports, which are expected to cost a total of VNĐ355 billion (US$15.2 million).

With its coast of 200km, the province targets development of off-shore fishing and reducing near-shore fishing, and an annual catch of 439,000 tonnes by 2030, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Quảng Trọng Thao, deputy director of the department, said the province plans to establish more fishing co-operatives and co-operative groups and develop linkages between processing companies, fishing companies and fishermen.

It would help fishermen go off-shore and adopt advanced technologies to improve the quality of their catch, reduce post-fishing losses and production costs, protect the environment, and adapt to climate change, he added.

In the first five months of the year the province’s catch was 220,686 tonnes, down 6.7 per cent year-on-year.

The main reason for the decline was that many boats temporarily stopped going out to sea because of high fuel prices, depleted fishing resources, a shortage of fishermen, and financial losses as a result of these.

The province has 3,664 fishing boats of at least 15 metres length that can go off-shore, and nearly all have black boxes for keeping track of them, according to the department.

Authorities have taken co-ordinated measures to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and generally strengthened oversight of fishing activities and registration of fishing boats. – VNS